


In Search of a Cure

by Radio Rascal (Vagrants)



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Adventure, Gen, I'm Bad At Titles, Illnesses, Papyrus is upset and that makes me upset, Post-Pacifist Route, references to other routes/timelines, the fan-character is only there b/c i needed a doctor-person
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-27
Updated: 2016-05-13
Packaged: 2018-05-23 12:57:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6117150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vagrants/pseuds/Radio%20Rascal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Sans falls deathly ill, it's up to a small group of heroes to venture into Snowdin Forest and find what will cure him. Things are rarely that simple, however, and Frisk worries they might have to do what they've been dreading.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The world was a mess of color and dizzying haze. It wasn’t the drunk kind of haze, either; Sans doubted he’d drank enough at Grillby’s new bar to get  _ this _ wasted.

When the weird sensation fell over him, he thought he’d gotten a bad drink. Grillby seldom made mistakes, and never when it came to drinks, but there was a first time for everything, right? Maybe he gave Sans something way stronger than what he was used to.

So Sans had walked outside for some fresh air. When that failed to help, he decided to call the night early and go home.

“Home” was a vaguely square-shaped bright thing in front of him. Sans stuck out his arms and shuffled forward until they hit the door. He blinked, focused long enough to find the knob, and then stumbled into the living room through the open door. He swung the door backwards and managed to stick it closed.

He already knew he wasn’t making it up the stairs, so he crashed on the couch. It was so  _ cold _ , even with his hoodie. He lay face down and tucked his limbs under himself, rubbing phalanges together in a bid to stay warm. He shivered, his bones rattling loudly. He didn’t know if Papyrus was home yet or not, but the noise was sure to catch his attention.

Because Sans knew by now this was worse than drinking something that didn’t agree with him.

* * *

“SANS!! SANS, YOU LAZYBONES! YOU FELL ASLEEP ON THE COUCH AGAIN! WAKE UP!!!”

Papyrus frowned at his brother. Really! Sleeping on the couch! So lazy he wouldn’t go up the stairs! Now he wouldn’t even open his eyes to give an explanation.

“SANS, DON’T YOU REMEMBER? THE HUMAN’S SCIENCE FAIR IS TODAY! WERE YOU NOT EXCITED ABOUT IT?” Perhaps that would entice Sans! But, alas, Papyrus’s great trick didn’t work. The science fair wasn’t until later in the afternoon, and it was only ten AM now, so Sans could have slept in if he wanted and still got there.

Just when Papyrus was about to huff and give it up, Sans stirred. He offered an almost imperceptibly-quiet noise.

“OH GOOD, YOU’RE AWAKE!”

A louder noise, this one more like a whine. Sans tried lifting his arm but only got it two inches off the cushion before dropping it.

“...OR SO I THOUGHT. HAVE I BEEN DUPED?” Papyrus was starting to feel a little worried now, though. It wasn’t usually this difficult to rouse his brother, even if Sans had been drinking the previous night. “OPEN YOUR EYES, BROTHER!”

Sans was certainly conscious, since he tried to obey. One eye socket opened a tiny fraction. The white light inside flickered like a candle in the wind.

Papyrus gasped. “SANS WHAT’S WRONG? SANS!” He placed a hand on his brother’s back and drew away at the heat. “ARE YOU SICK? OH NO! I’M SORRY I DIDN’T REALIZE SOONER! WHAT KIND OF BROTHER AM I??” He fretted all the way into the kitchen, where he rooted through the cabinets for the medicine.

He’d trained extra-hard with Undyne yesterday, so he’d went to bed early. Sans hadn’t been home by then, so he’d been like this all night. Whatever it was, the medicine would help.

Papyrus propped Sans up on the couch and administered the proper dose onto the spoon. The syrup was clear and glittery. It was supposed to taste like cherries, but the flavor was more akin to lies and betrayal.

“HERE, BROTHER. NOW! I KNOW IT TASTES TERRIBLE! IT CERTAINLY ISN’T MY COOKING! BUT, IT WILL HELP. SO PLEASE COOPERATE.”

Sans cracked his eyes open just enough to see what was in front of him, then opened his mouth and took the medicine without complaint. Papyrus shuddered. How he could stand it, nobody would ever know. Perhaps he’d taken it so much it no longer had a taste.

“THERE! I WILL GET YOU A BLANKET AND THEN COOK YOU SOMETHING NUTRITIOUS! JUST STAY THERE.” Papyrus hurried up to his brother’s room, yanked the blanket off the bed--he’d get irritated at the incredible mess later--and returned downstairs to wrap Sans in it.

Papyrus busied himself with cooking next. He’d invented something he liked to call “breakfast spaghetti,” so he was making that and adding extra things such as garlic to help with the illness.

It’d been years since Papyrus had to tend to his brother like this. And, they were on the surface, so...no! The Great Papyrus couldn’t let himself succumb to worry such as this! Especially not when his brother was depending on him!

After finishing the breakfast spaghetti--he arranged it in the shape of a smiley face, hoping it would cheer Sans up a little--Papyrus returned to the living room with a steaming bowl.

“ALL RIGHT SANS! THAT MEDICINE SHOULD BE WORKING BY NOW! IT IS TIME TO EAT.” And then bedrest, which Sans was the absolute best at. Yes, this illness would be over and gone before anyone would know it!

Papyrus set the bowl on the coffee table and gently shook his brother’s shoulder. Sans didn’t move. Papyrus’s soul constricted, not unlike how a human’s heart would skip a beat.

“SANS, BROTHER, PLEASE!” He shook a bit harder. Sans fell over onto his side. His face was the picture of absolute calm--his smile hadn’t even faded. His hoodie hid his shallow breathing almost perfectly, so if it weren’t for the fact that he wasn’t dust yet, one might mistake him for dead.

“OH NO...OH NO OH NO OH NO!” Papyrus flew around the room, throwing drawers open and tearing through stacks of papers and knickknacks that had gotten thrown in over time. He wasn’t concerned with the mess he was making at the moment. There was something much more important to worry about. “WHERE’S DR. TAMMY’S NUMBER...THE NUMBER…”

* * *

_ “What’s that, bro?” Sans peered over Papyrus’s shoulder. _

_ Papyrus was kneeling before a box of the brothers’ belongings. Everyone was making for the surface now, and he had elected to be the one to go through everything before the move. If he left it up to Sans it’d never get done. _

_ “OUR OLD DOCTOR’S NUMBER,” Papyrus answered. He furrowed his brow at it. “I WONDER IF THIS IS THE SAME NUMBER...WE HAVEN’T CALLED HER IN YEARS.” _

_ “Give her a house call and ask her what’s up.” _

_ Papyrus turned his narrowed gaze onto Sans. “IF SHE CHANGED HER NUMBER WE NEED TO GET HER NEW ONE.” _

_ Sans shrugged. “If we haven’t called her in ‘years,’ bro, we probably don’t need it. Besides, she’s probably busy today with all these…” _

_ “SANS!” _

_ “Emergence-ies,” Sans said. _

_ Papyrus scooted around to properly face his brother. “BUT THAT’S JUST IT, SANS...YOU HAVEN’T GOTTEN SICK IN YEARS DOWN HERE, BUT THIS IS THE SURFACE! WHAT IF THERE ARE NEW VIRUSES UP THERE?” _

_ “Then I’ll have to shake off the vi-rust and kick their butts like I did before.” Sans’ attitude didn’t waver. _

_ Papyrus looked down at the yellowed paper in his hands. “I JUST DON’T WANT ANYTHING BAD TO HAPPEN TO YOU, BROTHER. WE’VE FINALLY SEEN THE SURFACE AND…” _

_ He felt a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, Papyrus, it’s okay. Go ahead and call her. I just…” He shoved the hand back into his pocket and glanced away. “You don’t have to worry so much about me, all right?” _

_ Papyrus smiled. “THAT IS THE JOB OF A BROTHER, SANS, AND THE GREAT PAPYRUS STRIVES TO BE THE BEST BROTHER POSSIBLE.” _

* * *

“AHA!” Papyrus held the paper up triumphantly before whipping out his cell phone. “DOCTOR TAMMY? IT’S THE GREAT PAPYRUS! SANS IS ILL AND I NEED YOUR HELP IMMEDIATELY...YES, HE’S VERY FEVERED. HE WON’T WAKE UP OR RESPOND. PLEASE HURRY! GOODBYE.”

Half an hour later, there was a slender, white-furred rabbit wearing a doctor’s coat in the brothers’ house. She was using an instrument Papyrus didn’t know the name for to check Sans over.

It felt like his soul was doing gymnastics in his chest. When Doctor Tammy stood upright and turned her serious gaze on him, he had a terrible sinking feeling. It was also familiar--like all those years ago.

“Well...he hasn’t fallen down quite yet,” the rabbit said, smoothing her long ears back. “But it isn’t like anything I’ve seen. He must have a surface illness.”

Papyrus’s shoulders drooped. “I KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN…”

“Sans had gotten used to all the illnesses down there, but up here, it’s all different,” Tammy continued. She cast a concerned look to Sans. “I’m sorry, Papyrus, but other than what you’re doing now, there’s not much else to be done.”

“WHAT? Y-YOU CAN’T GIVE HIM ANYTHING?”

Tammy shook her head. “Human medicine does nothing for skeletons. You can put a damp washcloth on his forehead to try to keep the fever down, but otherwise...” She started packing her things up. “I’m sorry. I have other appointments. If anything else happens--if he gets worse--call the emergency doctor, all right?” She paused, reached into her bag, and produced a lollipop.

He accepted it, knowing the doctor was trying to calm him down the only way she knew how. He’d been a child the last time they saw each other, after all.

After she left, Papyrus paced in front of the couch where Sans still lay. He didn’t know if it was a smart idea to move his brother, or leave him, or if he should call someone else…

Someone else! His immediate first thought was Undyne--maybe she could beat up the virus inside Sans! Then he thought better of it. She might hurt him by accident. Someone gentler--like Toriel!

He selected her number on his cell and kept glancing at Sans while it rang once, twice...


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frisk and the monster girlfriends get involved. Flowey pouts about things that are beyond his control.

Papyrus hopped around impatiently while the phone rung. When she finally picked up and said “Hello, Toriel speaking,” he started off a mile a minute. “YOUR MAJESTY I AM SO SORRY BUT IT’S AN EMERGENCY! SANS IS SICK AND THE DOCTOR DOESN’T KNOW WHAT TO DO AND I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO EITHER!!”

He was speaking loudly enough to be heard by other people, because he picked up on Frisk saying something like, “Did he say Sans is sick?”

It was a moment before Toriel responded. “Is it very bad?”

Papyrus felt tears prick at the edges of his eye sockets. “V-VERY BAD INDEED, YOUR MAJESTY! PLEASE! ...I’M SCARED.”

“All right, all right.” Toriel took on that tone she used for frightened or anxious children. “I’ll be right over. Just give me a moment to alert the other teachers and I will be on my way.”

* * *

Frisk didn’t mean to eavesdrop--Papyrus was just so loud. “Did he say Sans is sick?”

Toriel nodded.

This was perplexing. Frisk had reset so many times and never encountered this. Then again, they rarely made it so far before the nagging otherness in the back of their mind compelled them to reset. It reminded them that this timeline felt different. Felt final.

But there was a pit of dread. If something happened, they might be  _ forced _ to reset. Papyrus certainly sounded worried enough, although Frisk told themselves that he had a tendency for dramatics. Somehow it didn’t feel like that. After so many timelines, they knew the skeletons too well.

“...I will be on my way.” Toriel hung up. Her expression was grim and more serious than Frisk had seen her in a long while. “I’m sorry, child, but I must leave.”

“I’m going too,” they said.

“But Frisk, you might miss the fair.” Toriel tried to look reassuring now, perhaps realizing that her own worry was seeping through. “I am certain it is nothing quite as serious as Papyrus is thinking.”

“Please, Mom.” Frisk put their hands together. “Sans is one of my best friends. I have to see him.” The fair wasn’t until later, anyway, and they’d only come this early to help their adopted mom set things up.

“All right. Let me tell the other teachers where we’re going.” Toriel found the nearest faculty member, alerted them to the situation, and then she and Frisk were in Toriel’s car, heading for the skeletons’ house.

When they arrived and walked through the front door, Toriel gasped. “Oh my! He hasn’t...f-fallen down, has he?”

Papyrus shook his head. He was seated on the couch next to his brother’s inert form. “DR. TAMMY SAID THAT THANKFULLY HASN’T HAPPENED, BUT THAT SHE DOESN’T KNOW WHAT HE HAS AND THAT THERE’S NOTHING WE CAN DO BESIDES WHAT I’VE ALREADY DONE.”

Toriel covered her mouth with a paw.

Frisk stared. Sans couldn’t just  _ drop dead _ ...could he? He didn’t strike them as the type to get sick, despite his lifestyle.

Papyrus had a fistful of Sans’ blanket and fidgeted with it. He was staring at nothing in particular. “THIS ONE TIME, WHEN SANS WAS LITTLE AND I WAS EVEN LITTLER, HE GOT  _ VERY _ ILL. HE DID NOTHING BUT LAY IN BED AND SHIVER! FOR A WHOLE WEEK. IT TOOK HIM A LONGER TIME THAN USUAL TO GET BETTER.

“THE DOCTOR DIDN’T TELL ME THEN, BUT...YEARS LATER, I LEARNED HE ALMOST DIED.” By now, he was trembling slightly. Toriel set a hand on his shoulder.

Frisk didn’t know what to do upon seeing Papyrus so genuinely upset. For him to be truly worried, it had to be dire indeed. They looked at Sans. Just when they thought this timeline might be the final one, they might end up having to reset out of their own will.

_ No way _ would they let one of their most precious friends die this soon after reaching the surface. There had to be some other way. They could warn him about it--

No. They didn’t have to reset either. Surely there was something that could be done other than sit here and wait.

“There is...something.” Toriel didn’t meet anyone’s gaze, perhaps uncertain of her own idea.

Papyrus jumped up nonetheless. “WHAT IS IT??”

“Well, when we monsters were first forced underground, we did carry a couple of human illnesses with us,” Toriel said. “We were used to them back then, of course, but we still needed medicine for the very young and the very old. There was a plant that used to grow in Snowdin…”

“Used to?” Frisk asked.

Toriel fretted. “We...used it quite a lot. Of course, I haven’t been to Snowdin in a long time, but it had become rare before I moved into the Ruins.”

“WHAT DOES THIS MYSTERY PLANT LOOK LIKE?” Papyrus asked.

“It is bright blue, like our sky. The petals are not soft but hard, and they shine like crystals. The disc in the center is a dark color, and if you just barely touch it, red powder falls out. It was this powder we used to treat illnesses in those early years.”

Papyrus rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I HAVE NEVER SEEN IT. AND I LIVED IN SNOWDIN MOST OF MY LIFE! BUT, PERHAPS IT IS SOMEWHERE DEEPER IN THE FOREST.”

“Ah, yes. We never moved far into the forest. If the flower still exists, it is likely there in abundant numbers. It is a somewhat obscure piece of history, so I am not surprised your doctor did not know of it.”

“I WILL LEAVE IMMEDIATELY!” Papyrus jumped up so quickly his feet almost left his shoes entirely.

“I’m going too,” Frisk said.

“Frisk!” Toriel looked at them.

“Mom, Papyrus can’t just go by himself.”

“THE HUMAN HAS A POINT,” Papyrus said. “BUT I WAS GOING TO ASK UNDYNE.”

“See? Undyne’s going too, so I’ll be fine.”

Toriel sighed and ruffled Frisk’s hair. “I know, my child. I know what you are capable of, but it is still difficult to not worry. At least take something to defend yourself with.”

Frisk nodded. They had left the Burnt Pan and Heart Locket in their room at home. They needed to tell Flowey where they’d be going, anyway.

* * *

“What do you mean, you’re leaving?” The flower asked from his pot, which was perched on the windowsill.

“I have to take a trip,” Frisk said while they gathered things from around their room. An extra jacket and sweater went into a backpack, along with some snacks that they’d stashed around their room and the frying pan; the locket went around their neck.

“So you’re finally abandoning me,” Flowey said, his face twisting into that grotesque shape. “I knew it would happen! You lasted longer than I thought you would, but you were only trying to make it worse on me, weren’t you? Well, you’re wrong, because I--”

“Ssh.” Frisk placed a finger on Flowey’s mouth.

He was stunned for a good second, before morphing and chomping down on the prone finger. Despite his appearance, the fangs weren’t sharp and tickled more than anything. Frisk patted his head.

“It takes half a day to hike up to where the barrier was, and I don’t know how long it’ll take to find what we’re looking for, but if everything goes perfectly fine we could be back tomorrow morning.”

Flowey grumbled but said nothing.   
“Oh yeah! You’ll have to spend the day with Asgore. Toriel’s taking care of Sans and she said she can’t deal with both of you at the same time.”

Flowey turned around and sulked. “...Whatever.”

“See you later, Flowey.”

“...Whatever!”

* * *

Back at the skeletons’ house, Toriel, Papyrus, Undyne, and Alphys were waiting in the front yard. Toriel waved at Frisk and they returned it.

The two shared a brief goodbye hug under the awning, then Frisk turned to the group.

“Are we all ready?” Undyne asked.

They nodded.

“All right then, let’s go!”

All of them climbed into Papyrus’s car; the skeleton was driving, Undyne had shotgun, and Frisk was next to Alphys in the back.

“THANKS FOR DOING THIS ON SUCH SHORT NOTICE, UNDYNE,” Papyrus said as he pulled out of the driveway.

“Hey, it’s no problem,” Undyne replied with a wide grin. “I might not be head of the royal guard anymore, but I still have to help people when I can!”

“WELL, THE GREAT PAPYRUS APPRECIATES YOUR EFFORT! SO DOES SANS, I AM SURE.”

Frisk glanced over at Alphys, who took their look as a question.

“I’m uh, n-not going back underground with you,” she said. “I’m going to h-hang out around the entrance. When you guys go back, y-your phone’s only gonna work with our internet, b-but I can go in and out to reach both signals. Th-that way if anything happens, or if you g-get lost, you could still reach the outside.”

Frisk smiled. “That’s a good idea.”

Alphys nodded back.

The ride to Mt. Ebbott would be a long one, so Papyrus tried to puncture the silence with conversation.

“I SHOULD MENTION SOME THINGS ABOUT SNOWDIN FOREST,” he started. “PEOPLE USED SOME OF THE DEEPER PORTIONS OF THE FOREST TO TEST PUZZLES. DO YOU RECALL THE GAUNTLET OF TERROR, FRISK?”

“Yes.”

“I WENT INTO THE FOREST TO TEST IT BEFORE SETTING IT UP FOR REAL. MOSTLY EVERYONE TESTED THEIR PUZZLES THERE AFTER THE RUINS WERE SEALED OFF. SO! IT IS VERY TREACHEROUS.”

Undyne shoved her fist into her other palm. “Nothing we can’t handle! You couldn’t have made a puzzle that was too much for me.”

“OH, ON THE CONTRARY! SOME OF THEM ARE QUITE INGENIOUS AND FULL OF TRICKERY…”

Frisk was starting to feel better about the situation, listening to Undyne and Papyrus. Neither knew anything about the resets or saving, but would still help prevent a new timeline from having to be made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol i'm such a baby that when i played i didn't even pick up the dagger in Chara/Asriel's room so i fought Asgore with a frying pan.
> 
> also the more i write for this the sadder my headcanons for Frisk become. sobs. i have up to chapter five written and am partway through chapter six. granted, these chapters are all pretty short, but the plot doesn't demand much from me. so. basically it's not going to be a very long thing, i think.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frisk and friends take a walk. Toriel tends to her patient.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not too much happens in this chapter--it's mostly transition and delving more into Frisk's psyche. i don't have my headcanons about them completely sorted out but it gets slightly more disturbing every time i think about them. >_>
> 
> also i like the idea of Flowey on the internet way too much--

_ Flowey the Flower said: WHERE’S FRISK _

_ Flowey the Flower said: WHEN ARE THEY COMING BACK _

_ Alphys said: omg flowey we haven’t even gotten to mt ebbott yet >_> _

_ Flowey the Flower said: HURRY _

_ Alphys said: why are you asking me anyway? why not talk to them _

_ Flowey the Flower said: NO _

_ Alphys said: wait how r you typing?? _

_ Alphys said: flowey? _

_ Alphys said: whatever i didn’t want to talk to you anyway ^.^ _

_ Alphys said: wait _

_ Alphys said: HOW’D YOU GET MY NUMBER _

 

Alphys was staring at her phone and looking confused. Frisk would have asked, but she seemed pretty engrossed in whatever she was doing.

Outside, the landscape had turned from a small, bustling town into great empty fields. They hadn’t passed another car for an hour. There were a few farms along the way, but the closer they got to the mountain, the less influence civilization had on the wilderness. Nobody wanted to be too close to the mountain because of the legends surrounding it.

It had made Frisk’s journey to the summit that much more difficult. Not that they remembered it much anymore. They hadn’t brought supplies, so they had to live relatively close, but...

“What kinda music you got in here?” Undyne asked, pressing a button on the dash. Frisk recognized the track immediately--it was something Napstablook made. Undyne’s face scrunched up at it. “What is this??”

“IT’S CALLED ‘SPOOKWAVE,’” Papyrus said. “THIS IS THE LATEST SINGLE ON METTATON’S NEWEST ALBUM, ‘THE BEAUTY OF METTATON #2.’”

Undyne rolled her eye. “What, it’s a follow-up to ‘The Beauty of Mettaton #1'?”

“YEP! THE WORLD-FAMOUS PLATINUM RECORD!”

“Oh my god, I was joking.”

Everyone else seemed so at ease. They must have been confident that they could find the medicine, or that Sans would recover on his own--or they didn’t want to bog themselves down with worry the entire way.

_ There’s always the reset, _ Frisk heard in the back of their mind.  _ Remember that. _

_ I know. I always know. _

“Hey guys,” Frisk spoke up. “Why are cats such good listeners?”

“Huh?” Undyne glanced back at them.

They saw Papyrus’s eyes narrow in the mirror. “Because they’re  _ feel _ -ines.”

“ARGH! YOU’RE AS BAD AS SANS!!”

Frisk intended to help lighten the mood, but a pun evidently wasn’t the right choice as everyone fell quiet for a few moments afterwards. Alphys glanced up from her phone, realizing the sudden change.

“...So, uh, just to make sure everyone knows,” Undyne said, breaking the silence, “blue crystal flower, red powdery thing in the middle. Right?”

“R-right. Nobody has pictures but,” Alphys scrolled through her phone, “Asgore has a painting of one he did a long time ago, b-back when they were common, and I asked him to send me a picture. I’ll forward it to everyone’s phones in a minute.”

Undyne grinned. “Can’t believe I actually agreed to go flower-picking. But at least there are those  _ super-dangerous _ puzzles, right Papyrus?”

“OH YES, VERY DANGEROUS!” Papyrus shuddered. “LIKE THE ONE THAT SPRAYS GLITTER ON YOU IF YOU GET THE WRONG ANSWER! YOU WON’T FEEL CLEAN FOR WEEKS!”

Frisk looked out the window and kept to their thoughts. The road was taking an incline now, leading the car up the mountain instead of just towards it.

Late in the afternoon, the path petered out and the group was forced to hike the rest of the way. Papyrus went off-road and parked behind some trees at Undyne’s suggestion; hardly anyone came up this far, but just in case.

Frisk took out a granola bar and munched on it during the hike. Little animals scurried away at the sights and sounds of several strange, large creatures.

The walk evoked a deep nostalgia for Frisk. They should have remembered more about their journey up here than they did. After they fell the first time, when they reset, they always awoke on the flowers. After enough resets, they forgot what it was like to climb the mountain. More time still and they forgot their reason for climbing altogether.

They shoved the empty granola wrapper in their pocket and tried to think if they took any snacks with them before. They didn’t wake up with anything, of course, but surely they had something for that initial journey.

Alphys started huffing and sweating within five minutes, so Undyne hefted her over a shoulder. Alphys blushed for a good while.

But the walked reminded them of little things. How they’d gotten tired pretty quickly but pressed on. Their breath heaving as they reached the summit; everything they knew about the world small and sparkling in the early morning light. Yes, that was right. They’d started in the earliest hours of the day, before dawn, so they would have light when they had to scale the more dangerous parts of the mountain.

Or was that just good timing, and they’d left at that time for a different reason?

Frisk glanced around, realizing things were quiet. In their reverie, they’d let themselves fall behind. Papyrus had a high-kneed gait, swinging his gloved hands in exaggerated arcs, and Undyne walked more sensibly beside him with Alphys still hanging off her. They jogged to catch up.

“God, it’s freezing up here,” Undyne growled.

“I-I to-told you to bring a jacket!” Alphys admonished.

“That’s the only reason I’m still carryin’ you, you know. You’re all warm.”

Alphys blushed again.

“PHEW...GOING UP A MOUNTAIN IS MUCH MORE DIFFICULT AND LESS FUN THAT GOING DOWN, I MUST SAY,” Papyrus said, sweating. “FRISK, YOU DID THIS ALL BY YOURSELF?”

Frisk nodded. “At least...I don’t think I had any help.” Physically, they were less than ten years old. Somewhere around that. Give or take. Regardless, a child their age would have had a lot of trouble with this.

Plant life started disappeared and then phased out almost entirely; tiny springy things popped up from between the rocks and a few stunted trees tried to live in the thinning air and poor soil, but for the most part, the scenery had become rocky. And much more treacherous.

The rest of the hike passed without incident, though. They reached the door to the underground before sunset. Undyne set Alphys down and everyone went inside. Through the broken barrier and the dark rooms in the back of the palace. Asgore’s throne room and house were as Frisk remembered, if a bit dustier.

“Let’s rest a minute in the kitchen,” they suggested.

“Y-yeah. I’d like to make sure UnderNet still w-works, too,” Alphys said.

The grey kitchen still felt homey even though nobody had lived here for a while now. Frisk rested on one of the table chairs, sitting across from Alphys who was making a test post to UnderNet. A tiny “aha!” and they knew the result before she started speaking.

“Everything’s still working! Wow, it’s more durable than even I expected.”

Papyrus and Undyne had spread a map of Snowdin on the floor and were poring over it, trying to determine the best entry point. “Awesome,” the former captain said, standing while Papyrus gathered the map. “We can get going now.”

Frisk hopped off the chair and started down the hallway. Papyrus was still staring at the map and making thoughtful “hmm” noises to himself.

“It’ll take a couple hours to get to Snowdin, without the Riverperson,” Undyne said as the trio stepped into the elevator to take them to the other side of the long catwalk. “It’ll be getting late by then, but we’ll look for a few hours and rest in the Inn regardless of if we find it or not.”

Frisk nodded. “If we can’t find it at all…?”

That proved to be their second mistake of the day, as Papyrus let out the tiniest of whines.

“Well, I hear Sans is pretty tough,” Undyne said. She guffawed. “Not as tough as me of course!! But tough...for a skeleton.”

“OF COURSE THE BROTHER OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS WOULD BE TOUGH! HE...HE COULD GET THROUGH IT WITH OR WITHOUT THIS MEDICINE!! ...BUT BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY.”

Frisk knew they kept speaking out of line because of their own stress, but decided they’d better be quiet again for a while. The last thing they wanted was to really upset Papyrus.

* * *

Sans’s breathing had become more and more labored. Toriel kept switching out the cloths when needed, and even though the skeleton rattled terribly, she also placed cold water bottles at his side. His shirt was soaked with the condensation off the bottles; she’d already stripped him of his jacket.

But despite her efforts, his fever had barely gone down--his facial bones had the faintest blue tinge of heat. Toriel checked her phone periodically, waiting on the first message from Alphys.

Finally, as evening was beginning to dye the sky orange and Toriel knew she’d missed the entire fair, she saw it.

 

_ Alphys posted: just got to the barrier! we’re going to stop at asgore’s old house for a break and i’m going to check if undernet still works. i’ll check back in a little while. _

_ Goat Mom commented: Oh dear! I’m glad you all made it there safely. xoxo _

 

She knew Alphys wouldn’t see it until she ventured outside again, but the tangential communication felt nice anyway. Just as she was about to close out of the app, another comment popped up.

 

_ Flowey the Flower commented: OH MY GOD YOU’RE THE SLOWEST ADVENTURERS EVER SANS IS GOING TO  D I E _

 

Toriel suppressed a gasp of surprise. Wasn’t Asgore keeping an eye on him? Why was he being allowed unrestricted internet access? Toriel would never have let him post something so insensitive.

As though Flowey had a premonition, Sans started coughing and wheezing harder than before. Toriel jumped out of the armchair and was across the living room in two wide steps.

The skeleton tossed his head about and let out a low moan. He opened his eyes, looked at her for a second, and then they fluttered shut.

“Pap...Papyrus,” Sans whispered harshly.

“Your brother has left,” Toriel said. “It is I, Toriel. I am taking care of you in his absence.”

Sans mumbled something that could have been “where is he?” He tried to move, to sit up, but Toriel placed a sturdy hand on his forehead.

“No, no, stay still and rest.” She didn’t know how much he understood in his fevered state, but it was best to explain. “You have come down with a human illness. We have no treatments for a monster with a human illness yet, so your brother left with Frisk, Undyne, and Alphys to find something in Snowdin that should help. They should be back by tomorrow.”

Sans grunted, but she didn’t know if that meant he heard a word of what she said or not.

“Try to stay awake,” Toriel said. “You should eat something.”

Sans made another noise in response, so she supposed he  _ could _ hear her. “I am going to go fix you something to eat. If you need me, ah...make a loud noise. I will hear you.”

In a few minutes, she had some tomato soup heating up on the stove. Hopefully the smell of Sans’s favorite food--tomatoes--would jumpstart his apetite, and not make him feel sicker.

She noticed a series of post-it notes covering a small canister.

“REMEMBER TO TASTE-TEST SUGAR!” read the top one, in Papyrus’s large handwriting.

“You sound  _ salty _ about something bro,” was Sans’s response under the first note. Toriel smirked.

“MY  _ COOKIES _ WERE SALTY! IT IS SIMPLY IN _ SALT _ ING FOR SOMEONE TO--” he had to use two post-it notes “--MESS AROUND WITH ONE’S KITCHEN LIKE THIS!”

“Sorry to rub salt in the wound. Maybe you should invest in a su-guard?”

Papyrus evidently hadn’t thought of a witty comeback yet, as that was the last note.

Toriel sighed. Even his great puns proved to be of little worth as a distraction from her worry. She seemed to find herself in these situations often. Waiting and wondering if someone she cared about would die soon.

She poured the soup from the saucepan into a bowl, frowning, but she reminded herself that this was an important task as well. She wasn’t passive or helpless.

But she felt as much when she returned to the living room with the bowl in hand. She froze, her breath stopping in her throat.

A weak blue glow emanated from under Sans’s shirt. It pulsed, fading to near invisibility and then becoming strong again. Yet even in the two seconds between Toriel seeing it and reacting to it, she could tell the pulses were becoming weaker.

With the last of his waning willpower, Sans’s soul was making a desperate bid for help. It was instinctual for monsters to do as such; it helped in the early days before they figured out how to give light to the entire underground. If a monster was badly injured, their soul would glow brightly enough for others to find them even if they were unconscious.

Toriel was witnessing a soul in severe distress, trying not to die.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans holds on. Two goats have a talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so! it took me a very long time to update this! i apologize.
> 
> on the plus side, i have a complete, (exactly) 50,094-word original science fiction novel sitting in my Drive. it needs serious fixing up and there's so much research i have to do for the second draft it's kind of mind-boggling, but it exists and maybe i'll one day be able to put it out into the world! o: that's one reason why this update took a while, the other being...i can't remember because it was almost two months ago and my memory's reliability extends like, two days at tops. lol.

The shock abated and Toriel moved into action. She brought out her phone and dialed the emergency number with one paw while using the other to throw a blanket over Sans’s body.

The emergency number for monsters was the same as it had been underground; it had been kept separate from the humans’ because of the differences in medical requirements. She was connected to another monster right away. “What is your emergency?”

“I have a very sick skeleton here,” Toriel said. “I believe he has contracted a human illness. His soul is fading. I think he’s--dying.”

“All right, and what is your address?”

Luckily she knew it off the top of her head, after driving here to drop off and pick up Frisk so much. She related it to the operator and there was a momentary pause.

“Medical personnel are on their way to your location. Is the skeleton responsive?”

“No. He had a fever, but he’s cooling down far too fast now.”

“Keep him warm but do not try to use any magic on him yet. Do you want me to stay on the line until help arrives?”

“No, thank you. I have to make another call.”

“Okay, then I’m going to hang up now.”

“All right. Thank you.” Toriel pressed the “end call” button on her phone and and scrolled through her other numbers. She had some knowledge of how emergencies like these were handled. Healing spells would be used to “boost” Sans’s soul back into a stable state. If he continued getting worse, he wouldn’t be able to maintain his physical form anymore, and would crumble into dust.

She had heard horror stories of emergency responders not having enough combined strength to boost a soul. She was not going to let that happen. She hit the number that read “Groundskeeper” and hoped for Sans’s sake that he would answer.

When he answered with a somewhat-confuddled “Hello?” she sighed so loudly that Asgore continued with, “Is that you, Toriel?”

“Come to Sans and Papyrus’s house immediately,” she said clippedly. “It is an emergency and we may need you.”

“I’ll be right over.” Asgore didn’t miss a beat, and hung up a second after. Toriel’s shoulders slumped.

What a trying night this was going to be.

* * *

Asgore had gotten out of the shower less than two minutes before Toriel’s call; she had impeccable timing or luck. He grabbed a coat from the hall closet--it wasn’t that cold yet and his fur still kept him warm enough, but it had big pockets on the inside--and hurried to the kitchen.

Flowey was on the table. He’d finally started nibbling at the cookies Asgore offered him several hours ago when he first picked up the flower from Toriel and Frisk’s house, but now his snack time would be cut short.

“Hey! Put me down!” Flowey shrieked, wriggling around in Asgore’s grasp even though it was entirely futile. Asgore placed the flower pot in his coat pocket, where the more-sensitive flower wouldn’t get hurt in the brisk late autumn chill. “What are you doing!?”

“We have to leave,” Asgore said.

“This is kidnapping!” Flowey’s voice only got more and more shrill.

“I’m not much of a kidnapper if I’m going straight to your caretaker,” he replied, marching out of the front door and stopping only to make sure it was locked. “Toriel called. There is some sort of emergency.” He knew it had to be Sans, but he still hoped it somehow wasn’t.

What else could make her call  _ him _ of all people?

“That means Sans kicked the bucket and she wants you to comfort her...it must remind her of--” Flowey stopped himself, and Asgore wasn’t in the state of mind to fully register what he’d said.

Instead, he zipped up the coat, and Flowey’s next complaint was muffled. He had to focus on the road for the next few minutes and didn’t want to add to the list of emergencies.

* * *

_ Flowey the Flower posted: UGH I CANT BELIEVE THIS DUMB KING DRAGGING ME OUT INTO THE COLD TO GO SEE THAT DUMB SKELETON _

_ Alphys commented: wait, skeleton? sans?? did something happen _

_ Flowey the Flower replied: He probably died >:K _

_ Alphys replied: oh my god why did i even ask you _

* * *

Toriel jumped at her own ringtone. She could hear sirens in the distance and found herself irrationally irritated.

“Toriel speaking.”

“Y-your majesty!” Alphys squeaked. She remembered the Royal Scientist from their brief meeting in New Home. “F-Flowey posted something weird and I was j-just w-wondering, is everything all right?”

“No, actually,” Toriel said. “I am sorry, but I have to go. I will call you and tell you everything later, all right?”

“Oh m-my god! Are--are those sirens?”

“I am sorry, I have to hang up now.” Toriel ended the call abruptly and went to let the responders into the house.

The two monsters came up to her shoulders and were dragon-like in appearance. They wore blue uniforms and one carried a box that must have contained medical instruments. One nodded at her courteously, but they both hurried to Sans and focused on him, exchanging words that Toriel was barely listening to.

She watched as they gently lowered Sans onto the floor and removed the blanket. His soul pulsed so weakly it had barely reached through the fabric of his shirt. Then the article of clothing was lifted off his chest.

A noise from behind caused Toriel’s ears to twitch, and she turned in time to see a pair of headlights stop a short piece up the street. The sun had set by now, a thin ribbon of pink near the western horizon the only remnant of the passing day.

Asgore got out and half-jogged through the front yard, calling, “What happened, Toriel?”

She shook her head. “He’s...very bad.” She glanced back into the living room, where the two monsters were already administering the spells that were the only hope of saving his life. “I knew they might need extra power, so I called you for...insurance.”

Asgore looked a little uncomfortable at that. He would have known it would be the only reason for this, though.

They both shuffled into a corner, waiting for the moment they might be called. It was over in two minutes--Toriel knew because there was a clock on the opposite wall--but it felt like an eternity. The skeleton’s soul burned bright while the healing magic worked on him, and then dulled to a more natural, cool color. It was steady.

“Go get the stretcher, I’ll stay here,” one of the dragons said to the other, who nodded and moved off.

Toriel didn’t--couldn’t--say anything as they loaded Sans up. One of the dragons gave her the address of the hospital they were taking him to, and then they were all gone.

The house felt unnaturally quiet.

Asgore cleared his throat.

“I have to call Alphys,” Toriel said. “Um, make yourself at home, I guess.” She hurried into the kitchen, her phone already at her ear. “Yes, Alphys? I am so sorry...please, do not cry...Sans is fine now…”

* * *

_ Alphys posted: oh god oH GOD OH GOD what happened hhh _

_ Alphys posted: i’m havinh a pa ic attakc _

_ Alphys posted: waht happened!!! _

 

_ Alphys posted: ok just got off the phone w/ toriel _

_ Alphys posted: not sure if i’m glad i checked the surface internet when i did or not but _

_ Alphys posted: sans is all right thank god!! _

_ Alphys posted: he got taken to the hospital tho and idk how “all right” he is actually… _

_ Alphys posted: what am i gonna tell papyrus?? _

* * *

Toriel returned to the living room to see Asgore on the couch, his coat on his lap, and Flowey sitting on the coffee table.

“Where did he come from?” she asked.

“O-oh! Heh…” Asgore glanced away. “I didn’t want to leave him alone, so I brought him along.”

“You really do not have a good track record with these things,” Flowey said.

Toriel narrowed her gaze at him. “What are you talking about? ...You know, never mind.” She looked at Asgore. “He should have been taken to the hospital in the first place.” She placed a hand on her chest. “It is mostly my fault and my foolishness. I should have seen how weak he was getting. Yet I thought it would be all right.”

Asgore smiled empathetically. “It’s not your fault this happened, Tori. He would have still gotten that bad if he were in the hospital.”

“The brief wait could have killed him.”

Asgore shifted on the couch and looked down at his hands for a moment, then returned his gaze to Toriel’s face. She hated when he looked at her like that because--it made her feel just a little sorry for him. The worst part was he didn’t do it on purpose, or else she could have told him to stop. “Why don’t you go home and get some rest? I’ll go to the hospital and keep vigil on him.”

Toriel started shaking her head.

“Tori, you’re going to end up making yourself sick.” He gestured to Flowey. “Besides, I think he would rather spend the night with you.”

Flowey’s face shifted and he chuckled. “Calling it quits, old man? Am I too much for you?”

“On the contrary,” Asgore said, spreading his hands, “I think I’m not enough for you. When I told you we were going to see Toriel, you became just a little quieter.”

“ _ Because you zipped me up in your coat _ .”

Asgore gave her a pleading look.

She folded her arms over her chest. “Fine then. But do not hesitate to call me if anything happens with Sans. Even if it’s midnight.”

Asgore nodded, then stood to leave. “Good night, Tori.”

She hesitated. “Good night, Asgore.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get worse, but action is taken in the absence of grief.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i want to update people as to my situation before this chapter begins. i've had a hell of a couple of weeks.
> 
> the short of it is that my mother had a psychotic break and is currently out of town. we don't know where she is exactly. i'm taking care of my disabled sister and my ten-year-old brother, as well as keeping up the house where she lived. i have aunts and other brothers who help, but i'm doing a lot by myself. we also got a new puppy and he's a lot of work.
> 
> oddly enough this has only bolstered my motivation to write--i think the physical activity is calming the anxieties i have--but i also don't have nearly as much time as i used to, so i still don't know how often i'll be updating. this chapter was written a while ago, and i'm going to start on chapter six, but at this point i'm still figuring things out so there's still no regular update schedule. i feel like i might write more overall though so who knows?

There wasn’t as much of a difference between day and night underground as there was on the surface, but it was enough to necessitate flashlights. Plus, most of the electricity in Snowdin had gone out.

Frisk shined their flashlight around, walking slowly so they wouldn’t miss anything. They knew it was perfectly safe here, but the odd shadows and emptiness still unsettled them. They knew that there were...odd things still lurking in the underground, even if nobody else had seen it.

They doubted the odd creatures would have any reason to bother them or their friends, but the last thing Frisk wanted right now was to run into a disembodied face in the middle of the night with their friends on the other side of town. So, they were on edge and startled when the notification ding played on their phone.

 

_ Undyne: Either of you find anything yet? _

_ Frisk: No _

_ Papyrus: NO, BUT I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL CONTINUE SEARCHING FOR MY BROTHER’S SAKE _

_ Undyne: Okay i can’t find anything either. _

 

If there weren’t any flowers in town, they’d have to look further out, where Papyrus said the traps were. Frisk had hoped, with everyone having moved out, the underground’s bizarre nature would take over the buildings and the plant they searched for might take root in Snowdin.

Just as Frisk put their phone away, they got a call and saw it was from Alphys.

“Hi, Alphys,” they said.

“H-hey Frisk...how goes the search?”

“No luck so far.”

“Um--uh, where’s Papyrus?”

“On the other side of town,” Frisk replied. “We split up to make it quicker. How’s Sans doing?”

Alphys laughed. Frisk frowned. “H-he’s fine.” She paused. “Okay--okay that’s not entirely accurate but I really need to tell Papyrus more than anyone and I just realized I don’t have his number and it was more likely for Undyne to be near him--”

“Slow down, Alphys,” they soothed. “I’ll text them and tell them you need to talk to us.”

“Okay…”

Frisk did so. The Inn was the rendezvous point, a short walk from where they had been searching. They arrived last on the scene to Papyrus’s worried face. “I’m gonna put you on speaker,” Frisk said.

“O-okay--can you guys hear me?”

“YES!”

“Loud and clear, Alphys.” Undyne leaned forward. “So what happened?? You’re actin’ kinda scary.”

“We--well, at first I didn’t know if I should even say anything at all or not because you guys are busy with your search but then I thought maybe it was wrong to not tell him right away, I mean, it is his brother--” Alphys finally paused for a breath. Even Undyne looked stunned. “Sans had an, um, a-an...episode? An attack?”

Papyrus gasped.

“He’s fine--he’s completely fine now! B-but he’s in the hospital. They’re probably running some tests on him right now a-and whatnot.”

Some of the tension left Papyrus’s shoulders, but he still looked like he might fall apart at any second. “DID HE…?”

“I-I don’t think he’s ‘fallen down’ yet. But from what T-Toriel was saying, he came really close.” Alphys gulped audibly. “I’m so-sorry, that’s not what you wanted to hear and I’m not good at delivering news like this.”

Papyrus sighed. “NO, THANK YOU FOR KEEPING US UPDATED.”

“Yo-you’re welcome…”

“Alphys,” Frisk spoke up, “tell my mom I said hi and that I’m glad she was there to help him.”

“Will do, Frisk. I-I’m gonna go outside right after I hang up.”

“Wait a sec, Alphys,” Undyne said, leaning closer to the phone. “...Love ya.”

Frisk had never heard someone blush before.

Alphys stammered out a series of noises that were attempting to be language before managing a stuttering “You too! Bye guys!” and hanging up.

Silence descended. It was snowing.

Undyne put her hands on her hips. “If he was really that close to dusting, we might not have a whole lotta time. But…” She rubbed her chin and looked about. “There’s none of those weeds in town and it’s way too dark to go adventuring in the deeper parts of the forest if there are tons of old, defunct puzzles lying around.”

“WHAT DO WE DO, THEN?” Papyrus asked.

“All we can do is wait until morning, right now.” Undyne squared her jaw and glared at a particular snow pile. “It sucks, but it’d suck more if one of us was walking around in the dark, half-asleep, with nothing but a puny flashlight and ended up cutting off a leg in someone’s failed death trap.”

Frisk and Papyrus nodded. They didn’t like the idea of just waiting for their mission to continue either, but when even Undyne said there was nothing else to do, there was really no way around it.

The Inn had no electricity, but Frisk had the foresight to bring matches. They placed paper scraps in a salvaged ash tray, then put that on a nighstand between the two beds. After a brief disagreement between Papyrus and Undyne over who was going to go into the other room (“I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, DO NOT WANT TO SLEEP ALONE!” “Okay, I’ll go then.” “I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, DO NOT WANT ANYONE TO SLEEP ALONE!”) Frisk said they’d share with someone. It also prevented the possible argument of who was going to sleep on the floor.

Papyrus accepted the offer. After a small dinner mostly consisting of chisps and granola bars,  the fire was extinguished and everyone turned in early. Despite being wound up, Frisk wanted to fall asleep as soon as possible so they could go back to looking as soon as possible.

Skeletons were not good for cuddling. It was nothing against the Great Papyrus, but Frisk tried to stay on the opposite side of the mattress and outside the Cuddle Range, something they normally didn’t do.

“Damn,” Undyne whispered from the other bed. “We should’ve brought someone with fire magic.”

“PERHAPS HIS MAJESTY?” Papyrus replied.

“He wouldn’t be able to come until tomorrow so we’d still be waiting, anyway.” Undyne sighed in frustration and the mattress springs squeaked as she flipped over. “...I’m not gonna sleep.”

“ME NEITHER.” The room was quiet for a minute until Papyrus spoke up again; “I AM SCARED.”

Frisk turned over and briefly crossed into the Cuddle Range to pat Papyrus on the humerus. “It’s okay. Sans is in the hospital; they’ll take good care of him until we can find the medicine. They won’t let him turn to dust.”

Papyrus continued staring at the ceiling, his brow deeply furrowed. “OH, YOU ARE RIGHT. WORRYING IS NOT IN THE NATURE OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS!! BUT I CAN’T HELP IT.”

Frisk patted him once more. “Yeah, we’re all worried about him. I know that doesn’t help with the actual worrying, but we’re all in the same boat, you know?”

Papyrus nodded.

“Your brother’s as safe as he can be right now and we need to get rest so we can help him. Just try to think of...um...cooking.”

A smile tugged at the corners of Papyrus’s toothy mouth. “YES. THANK YOU FRISK. I FEEL A LITTLE BETTER NOW!”

Frisk smiled. “Good.”

“BUT YOU SAID YOU AND UNDYNE WERE WORRIED TOO.” Papyrus glanced from side to side. “ARE YOU TWO OKAY??”

As if to answer him, Undyne snored.

“WOW. SHE FALLS ASLEEP FASTER THAN I THOUGHT SHE WOULD. SHE MUST HAVE TRAINED HERSELF TO DO THAT.”

_ And she’s a deep sleeper, too, _ Frisk thought.

Papyrus yawned. “GOOD NIGHT FRISK. GOOD NIGHT UNDYNE EVEN THOUGH YOU’RE ALREADY ASLEEP.” He turned over and was out within a minute.

Frisk lay awake, staring at the ceiling.  _ It’s okay. Everything’s okay. _

_ Because if worst comes to worst, you’ll  _ reset _. _

They shivered, clutching their upper arms.  _ Just like all those other times. As the dust fell before your eyes and was carried off by the wind… _

Frisk curled up in a fetal position and squeezed their eyes shut. Sleep didn’t come fast enough, and on the end of night closer to dawn, they fell into fitful vague dreams of dark places and gleaming silver.

* * *

Monsters tended to have more erratic sleeping schedules than humans, so the monster hospital allowed visitors well into the night.

Asgore didn’t know Sans well, but if the skeleton woke up, having someone there would be better than nothing, right? Tori told him to call if anything changed, as well, so he almost felt he had to sit here.

No matter how awkward it was to sit with a near-stranger. On a chair that was a bit too small.

He’d stay for another few hours, but if he stayed up too late he’d end up falling asleep in this chair, and then he might not be able to get himself out of it--

“Mr. Dreemurr?” The nurse who poked their head into the room looked at him.

“Hmm? Yes, that’s me.”

“Are you...uh…” The nurse swiveled their eyestalks to look at Sans, then back to him. “The next of kin?”

“No,” Asgore answered. “But I have contact with the next to kin, in a way. Do you need to tell him something?”

The nurse shuffled into the room on at least six tentacles that Asgore could see. They looked nervous. “It’s about Sans’s condition.”

Asgore glanced at the skeleton. He was smiling, but that was normal for any of his kind; the blue tint of fever had returned to his face, which, given the earlier episode, was actually a good thing, right? “He’s...improved, hasn’t he?”

“Relative to his earlier state, yes,” the nurse said. They flipped through some papers on a clipboard. “...But.”

Asgore frowned. “But.”

“Overall, he’s not improving. In fact, he’s getting worse.” The nurse looked at him with a professional kind of compassion. “The tests came back and he has one of the new strains of influenza that mutated to infect monsters. This is the first time we’ve had to deal with a real flu season, so we don’t have anything for it. He has to fight it off himself. But if he continues deteriorating like this, he’ll have about twenty-four hours to live.”

Asgore bowed his head. “I see. I’ll tell his family. Thank you.”

The nurse left, and Asgore began the task of formulating his message. He noticed it was almost midnight on his phone’s clock--no wonder he was starting to get sleepy. Toriel would likely be asleep by now, too. He decided against calling her.

Luckily, the Royal Scientist had gone along with Papyrus. He selected her name from his contacts, but his call went to voicemail. She must have been in New Home.

“Doctor Alphys, I have something urgent to tell you. Call me as soon as you get this voicemail. Um, I hope you are doing well, also. Goodbye.”

Asgore didn’t like phones. They were so impersonal.

* * *

“Y-yeah...uh-huh...I’ll te-tell them right away…okay, bye.”

Alphys gave herself a minute to do nothing but shake.  _ Oh man, oh man, this is bad--really bad! _ She clutched her head crest, leaned against a nearby boulder. Anything to try and steady herself.

What was she going to say? How was she even going to say it?  _ Hi Papyrus how’s it going also your big brother’s definitely dying heh! _

Asgore said he had twenty-four hours before midnight, and it was close to one now. That actually made the news worse-- _ he’s dying in less than a full day! _

Alphys took a deep, shuddering breath, and let it out. It formed into little misty clouds in the autumn air. She realized the cold was probably why she shook so hard, and took tiny trembling steps back inside the warmth of the mountain.

Her phone automatically switched from the internet to UnderNet. Knots formed in her stomach as she looked down at the names. She was always the bearer of bad news, and there was nothing she could do besides tell them how hopeless the situation was becoming.

_ No, don’t think like that… _

Alphys dialed Papyrus. She wondered if it was prudent to rouse him with this and potentially cause him to go off and do something dangerous, like run around the forest in complete darkness. She was only trying to be more honest, and she didn’t know if the voice saying “don’t tell them” came from her past self or some rare social wisdom trying to push through.

He picked up on the fifth ring. He sounded groggy as he said, “DOCTOR ALPHYS? WHAT IS IT?”

“Um--er...are F-Frisk and Und-dyne awake?” Alphys tried willing herself not to sweat, but her sweat would not obey.

“FRISK IS. UNDYNE!”

There was a loud crash and two sharp screams. “I-is everything okay?!”

“YES, UNDYNE JUST THREW A SPEAR THROUGH THE WALL IS ALL!”

“Reflex,” she heard Undyne mutter in the background.

“I WILL ACTIVATE ‘SPEAKER MODE.’”

“G-guys?”

“What’s up, Alphys?” Undyne asked.

Alphys’s knees started knocking together and she was forced to sit down on the floor. She hadn’t even made it to the throne room yet. “I’m so, so sorry to wake you up like this but it’s ur-urgent!”

“It’s all right,” Frisk said. “Something’s happened?”

“Y-yes…” Alphys gulped and fretted with her shirt collar. Why was it suddenly stifling? She was freezing a minute ago. “Sans--he’s--ohh Papyrus I’m sorry!” There was only silence on the other end so she continued in a panic, “He’s not dead but he’s going to be soon, really soon, like less than twenty-four hours soon...I’m sorry!”

Undyne swore for a solid ten seconds. “It takes seven hours to get down the mountain and back to town, so he’s got more like seventeen hours.”

“Papyrus?” Frisk said timidly. Alphys felt her soul twisting. “Hey, wait! Papyrus!”

“Wh-what’s going on?”

“He shoved the phone in my hand and ran off.”

“Idiot! He didn’t even bring the stupid flashlight!” Alphys heard boots hitting the floor; Undyne was soon gone too.

“Frisk, pl-please…” Alphys couldn’t finish.

“It’s all right. We’ll…” Frisk paused. “...Sans won’t die.” Then they hung up, leaving her alone in the cold and the dark.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is a huge problem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> updates will be a little quicker, at least for a while, because i managed to write a lot over the last couple of days...i haven't been super busy like i was at first when shit first went down.

Undyne caught with Papyrus outside the Inn. He was making aimless circles in the darkness, arms outstretched. When he was caught in the beam from Undyne’s flashlight, he turned and gasped.

“THANK YOU,” he exclaimed as she handed him a spare. “GOING BACK WOULD HAVE COST ME PRECIOUS TIME!”

She cast a glance to the nearby door and said, “Dude! Calm down!! Frisk is right behind me. We’ll look together.”

Papyrus nodded, “brow” furrowed. “THAT WOULD BE BEST. FIVE EYES ARE BETTER THAN TWO! EVEN IF A PAIR IS CONSTANTLY CLOSED…”

Frisk was running to catch up and huffed by the time they reached the pair outside. They looked up at Papyrus. “We need to stick together. Who knows what could be out in the forest.”

Undyne inclined her head in agreement. “All right, if everyone’s ready, let’s go!”

The tall monsters had the advantage, their long strides carrying them to the line of trees faster than Frisk. They jogged to stay with the pair. In the shine of their flashlight, Papyrus’s face looked more grim than they had ever seen him. He hadn’t looked this way even when they…

Undyne took a momentary pause in front of the wall of trees and summoned a magic spear. She used the sharp point to hack at vegetation, the flashlight in her other hand. They used the best entry point they could find, where the trees were as thin as they would get.

The trio waved their lights over every inch. Beams revealed blackish pillars of tree trunks, the pure white of snow, fallen branches that gave a splash of occasional green to the monochrome landscape; there was no blue in sight save for Undyne.

“The flower glows, right?” Frisk wondered aloud. “Maybe we should turn off the lights. We might actually see it better.”

“You got a point,” Undyne answered, swinging the spear downward and taking out a huge branch that had blocked her way. “But we have no idea where the traps are, so we need constant light.”

“I BELIEVE THEY ARE A LITTLE DEEPER IN,” Papyrus said. “BUT! THEY ARE CLOSE. SO YES. KEEP THE LIGHTS ON.”

Frisk began to feel their lack of exercise after a few minutes. They were tempted to ask Undyne or Papyrus to be carried, but a rattling noise distracted them from the request.

The fish monster noticed too, as she paused and glanced around. She settled a narrowed eye on something behind Frisk. They turned and saw Papyrus a few steps back, having fallen behind without them noticing. His body shook so hard it looked like he might fall apart.

“I SH-SHOULD HAVE WORN SOMETHING WARMER,” he stammered, gloved hands grasping his skinny humerus bones.

“Do you need to go back?” Undyne asked.

Papyrus shook his head emphatically. “N-NO! THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL BEST THE COLD!”   
“How?”

“...A-ASK IT KINDLY TO LEAVE?” Papyrus looked genuinely uncertain.

Undyne shrugged. “Well all right then.”

Frisk wanted to speak up, but kept quiet. Cold had begun to seep into the tips of their fingers as well, but they couldn’t leave Undyne out here by herself. They bunched their fingers into their sweater sleeve and held their flashlight carefully through the fabric.

The trio resumed walking. More and more frequently, Undyne had to take several swipes at large blockages. Once, she had to cut down an entire tree to make room for the group’s passage. Frisk took out their phone to check the time and noticed they’d moved out of the internet range.

That was probably worth mentioning...but what could be done about it? They had to continue moving.

Every time Frisk’s powdered shoes kicked through a snow pile, ice shot through their toes. Their nose felt like a block of ice on their face. Despite not knowing how else they could have prepared, they felt underdressed and caught unawares by the weather.

“Oh my god, is it g-getting colder?” Undyne asked, stopping and turning to face the other two. The flashlight beam jiggled as her arm trembled.

Puffs of white, condensed breath from all three were whisked away into a rising wind. It sliced through Frisk’s clothes like a knife. Undyne’s ponytail whipped, her black coat and blue skin dusted with white. Her fins had long since closed to keep the sensitive webbing from the cold.

“A S-STORM MIGHT BE ON THE WAY,” Papyrus said. By now, he sounded like a xylophone that had been muffled with cloth. “TH-THEY HA-A-PPEN SOMETIMES…”

“W-we need to h-head back,” Frisk said. “It’s s-super easy to get lost in a--in a bliz-blizzard.”

It had already started to take form. They watched the lighter shadows of the trees sway and billow in the deeper darkness of the surrounding mountain interior. Between trunks and branches, wind whistled, but it was turning into a steady howl as time went on. Flakes fell with greater fervor, the combined lights the trio held barely penetrating the blanket of haze.

Undyne nodded as steadily as she could and took a numbed step back the way she had come. “E-everyone should hold hands,” she said, sticking out an arm towards Frisk.

They stumbled forward, foot catching on snow that was quickly turning into a complete solid. Her hand was somehow colder than theirs, but her grip was as fierce as ever. Frisk gave their other hand to Papyrus; his glove protected their digits a little.

Little as they were, Frisk had to hike their legs up higher and higher with each passing minute. The snow had become fearsome, and every flake that hit their face was so cold it burned.

Undyne had paled to a shade more similar to her surroundings. She held a spear aloft with her free arm, shielding her face.

The wind picked up and physically pushed Frisk over. They screwed their eyes shut against frigid tears.

“WE DID G-GO STRAIGHT, R-R-RIGHT?” Papyrus asked. He pulled closer to Frisk and they thought part of his shaking might be from fear.

“Yeah,” Undyne barked back.

Frisk started to respond, but instead of air, whipped brown hair filled their open mouth. They coughed and shook their head.

A second later, Undyne stopped. “I think we went this way??”

“OH NO,” Papyrus shouted, echoing Frisk’s internal feelings.

The wind howled as if to laugh at them.

* * *

Alphys jerked her head between her phone and computer screens. Both were blurry, but she would see the flash of a notification or movement in front of the camera.

She suddenly lost contact with the group about half an hour ago. She’d hurried to Hotland and used the few functioning cameras left to verify that her worry had come true--there was a blizzard in Snowdin. It knocked out the communications in that area, and the feeds outside the town proper were almost entirely whited out. It was no doubt worse in the forest, away from the magical protection that guarded the town.

Alphys had hoped they were ignoring her because of all the bad news she had to give them. But no. They were in a blizzard, not ignoring her, and she was here and oh god she didn’t know what to do.

She swiped at her eyes to clear them, sniffling. She couldn’t help this kind of reaction. Her friends could be dying and there was nothing she could do by herself. Calling Asgore or Toriel would have been useless.

Staying seated in her old desk chair was all she could do. She set her phone down to briefly cradle her head in her heads, craving a cessation of stimuli for just a moment. Warm tears escaped between her claws and collected on her coat.

This place had been both her prison and safe haven, in the past. It seemed it still was.

She hadn’t even properly moved to the surface. Boxes of various parts of machines, tools, and schematics were scattered all over the place, making the dim lab entrance a hazardous place.

“Wait,” she mumbled, then shot out of the chair. “There  _ is _ something I can do!”

She scrambled upstairs, claws scraping against tile and sending up clouds of thick dust. She attacked the boxes on her old work bench, assuming they would be most likely to contain what she searched for.

When everyone moved to the surface, Alphys had simply been too lazy to take everything in a timely fashion. She lived with Undyne now so she didn’t need a lot of it, anyway. She’d also thought it might be better to rid herself of all association with this place, to start over fresh.

But she was sure that inside these boxes was something vital. Her laziness had become good fortune in this dark time.

She found it in the third box she decimated, after lifting two others off it; the ache in her muscles seemed dull and quiet compared to the rush she felt at the moment.

It was round and took up the entire contents of the box. She remembered it had been a pain to get it in--not because of the weight or anything, but because Mettaton was helping her and he kept reminiscing-complaining about the “ugly” design.

The propellers were in a separate, thinner box laying beside it on the work bench. She turned the big box over to more easily pull out the device, then took the propellers to attach them.

It looked like a miniature helicopter, and in fact, had been based on the same human device. She and Mettaton had experimented with several designs for multiple terrains, including air, but the ghost-bot decided he preferred the ground in the end. His then-useless flying form had been stuffed in a box like a child’s forgotten RC toy.

Now, this “ugly” thing might save her friends’ lives. Alphys pressed the button and found that it worked--the indicator lights popped on, and the power gauge reported full battery. Good thing she forgot to take them out all these years, and that batteries lasted for so long.

It took her an extra ten minutes to rig a remote control program to it so she could drive it from her lab. Hopefully the blizzard wouldn’t effect its signal in the same way as the internet’s. If nothing else, she was trying. Not trying--just sitting and  _ waiting _ for something to happen--was as bad as leading them into the blizzard herself, in her mind.

After her work was done, she tested the controls by pressing the button she had set as “lift off.” She watched the propellers kick into action and hollered with triumph, pumping the air with a fist. She settled down to work and had the robot--thankfully a fairly fast one--leave the lab.

It was a long way to Snowdin. Her eyes didn’t leave the screen.

* * *

“I’m pretty sure we should have hit Snowdin by now,” Frisk shouted. Even if they opened their eyes, they couldn’t see anything but darkness and vague implications of movement that were Undyne, Papyrus, and the snow. All the flashlights were still working, but there was no visibility.

“We need to look for other shelter,” Undyne said, her voice thick with the numbing cold. “Before this gets even worse!”

Papyrus was quiet, but tightened his grip on Frisk’s hand. They squeezed back. His hand became a weight that suddenly pulled them down.

They shrieked, landing in the snow. Dull pain, their nerves crying out at the sudden intrusion of even more cold, reverberated through their body. They groaned and glanced to either side, but their freezing eyes couldn’t catch sight of Papyrus’s white bones through the storm.

“FRISK!” Undyne yelled.

They felt her slender fingers on them, pulling them up. She kept a vice grip on them while she used her other hand to search for Papyrus and haul him up. Frisk doubted he was standing after that.

“What happened?” Undyne continued to raise her voice to be heard over the growing storm.

“C-cold.” Frisk was close enough to hear the whimper, but Undyne’s greyed outline tilted her head.

“What? Papyrus? PAPYRUS!”

_ * Trapped in a blizzard, knowing you and your friends need help, fills you with...determination. _

**Author's Note:**

> i got this idea all of a sudden and am mostly writing without an outline or anything so i have no idea how it's going to play out. HOPEFULLY WELL.
> 
> i've seen at least a few people headcanon that Sans had health problems when he was young due to his physical weakness, so i figured surface illnesses would be really bad on him.


End file.
